Multiple people injured in Fort Lauderdale boat explosion, Fire Rescue says

Several people were hospitalized after a boat exploded in the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, according to the Fire Rescue department. The boat, which was near the New River Triangle sandbar, exploded around 5:45 p.m., said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class Jessica Walker. Frank Guzman, a Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue spokesman, said 11 people on the boat were injured, including two children.

Witnesses Bret Triano and Marisa Toomsen said they were hanging out at the sandbar when the boat exploded. “There was this boat trying to leave the sandbar and when they went to start their boat up, it just exploded,” Triano said. “It was a huge fireball and people were kind of falling off the boat, so we were at the sandbar too, and we just tried to go help out.” After getting a friend to call 911, the two got in their dinghy and pulled a man who was in his 30s out of the water. He was screaming, and his skin was burned “pretty badly,” Toomsen said. “He was saying, ‘Save me, please don’t let me die,’” Triano said. The two strangers got the man to shore, where the Coast Guard was waiting. Triano described the boat that exploded as possibly a 40-foot motorboat.

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